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| Jhumpa Lahiri at Kolkata Literary Meet, 2014 |
I am not sure how or where to begin. Jhumpa Lahiri, having written books like The Namesake and Unaccustomed Earth, may carry the reputation of a heavyweight author and of a celebrity who would have a certain degree of pompous air around her. But when I recently came across her, what struck me most was her reticence. She talks less and only when it is required. She smiles lesser and only when she really wants to.
It's amazing how she can maintain a straight
face even when a really good joke is being floated around. Some of my friends
suggested that probably she is arrogant and does not reciprocate the warm
greetings of her fans with equal warmth. However, I couldn't disagree more.
Jhumpa mam came across as a woman who is a
fiercely private person. She doesn't make any effort to guard herself from
public life. It comes quite naturally to her. It is also easy to see that she
is not the kind who can socialise easily. She cannot open up in a way she opens
up through her writings. In a way, her characters too reflect her persona in
several ways. Many of her characters are emotional beings but they are
emotional within their own private den. They seldom show their flood of
feelings and often keep it suppressed for years until the dam bursts finally
and the emotions are unleashed.
On meeting Jhumpa, one cannot figure out
what is going inside her mind. Even when I spoke a couple of sentences to her
before being ushered out, she just looked at me with her seemingly green eyes
and offered no word, except for a thin smile which didn't betray her thoughts.
An outsider will find it hard, even
impossible, to break through her shell and peep into her thoughts. She is a
woman of few words, as they say, which is ironic in the most ironic way
possible, since it is her words which have earned her a Pulitzer trophy and a
Man Booker prize nomination.
When I come to think of it, I feel it is
perhaps the way it should be with great writers. All their words reside inside
their hearts and not on their faces. You've got to earn them. You've got to
earn the right of passage into their hearts. There's no other way really.
Lovely insight Rit....and come to think of it! I HAVE read Namesake! You seem to be a BIG fan o fan of her :)
ReplyDeleteO, have you?
ReplyDeleteThat day, you said you haven't read Jhumpa :/
Ya, I respect her a lot :)
I've read The Interpreter of Maladies..Loved her work :-) Nice post Ritesh :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks dear...keep reading Jhumpa :)
DeleteI haven't read Jhumpa Lahiri..May be I should read..:)
ReplyDeleteOh please do...i 'd suggest Unaccustomed Earth :)
DeleteI love her work... you are so lucky to have met her and maybe understood her in some way. Enjoyed reading the write up
ReplyDeleteI wanted to hug her, but she is a really private being...so i was a tad disappointed in a way, but i really will take back the memories of that day to my grave...thank you rajlakshmi :)
DeleteYou met her? You REALLY met her! Lucky!
ReplyDeleteI like her writings, not a huge fan but she is definitely in my top list of Indian writers.
Ya i met her......she is good of course...thank you for reading Indrani
ReplyDeleteI think her persona is reflected in her writings. And I so love your domain name. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Saru. Yes, that's a good point u made there
ReplyDelete